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Heavily does the burden lie on the conscience
Thousands of chained freedom seekers
Victims of unjust incarceration
The sin is to yearn to be free
Shackled by the sinister quest to enslave
To oppress, to withhold, to deprive of liberty’s sweet moment
Imprisonment manifesting an evil disposition
To inflict suffering upon those profoundly victimized
By purposeful actions to expropriate land
To despoil orchards, to ever expand the tentacles of colonization
But the voice of protest, if unheard, is quite audible
Although encircled with the thick walls of seclusion
Isolation that does not alter an essential reality
That the evil of occupation is not redeemed by force
And that many a time the quest for justice is a painful yearning
Entailing the affirmation of responsibility by the oppressor
And the victim transcending pains of grievance
So that coexistence becomes a symmetrical affair
For the tides of conflict have an unpredictable flow
And survival is anchored in the nurturing of good will
To be attained with more than lip service to peace
But in redemption of trampled upon rights
The gun, the bulldozer, the helicopter gunship shall not vanquish
The Arab prisoners’ indomitable will to be free
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